Today, I discovered that I have been throwing away a valuable resource. What am I talking about?
Aquafaba
Aquafaba is the liquid (“water”) that some tinned chickpeas and other beans come in.
I have always drained the chickpeas or beans and thrown away the water (aquafaba) but for some reason I decided to use the infamous Google to find out whether it can be used and sure enough it can!!
I am delighted to learn that as a vegetarian and not using eggs in my cooking, I can now use aquafaba as an egg substitute
Normally, I am not a big fan of substitutes, but on occasions, needs must.
For anyone else wishing to make use of this valuable resource that they may also have been throwing away, it should be noted it can only be used as a binding agent i.e. you cannot make homlettes out of it
It can also be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen as “ice cubes” for longer term storage.
Aye, it can be, I make a hollandaise out of it to go with asparagus. Also the brine in kidney bean cans or other legumes can be used as a very good thickener for soups and stews. No point in throwing the baby out with the bath water, if I have used the phrase correctly.
I am not vegetarian but as a child I used to suck tea bags, so tend to use everything. If I cook chicken, I make stock from the bones and also make bone soup. My compost unit, unfortunately, receives little vegetable waste because it all goes in my belly.
Thanks for the tip on the Brine Rupert - I love soups and stews and this will help.
Also, as we’re talking tinned foods and making the most, I also like to give the tin a little rinse with water to get as much of the product out as possible - I just hate waste
If I had another life in catering, I would either have a pop-up pie stand or pop-up soup stand. Two of my favourite dishes. I would love to be able to get a hot cup of soup on a cold day or a lovely cold cup of soup on a hot day while out and about. Soup is very underrated and the idea of a takeaway soup is often just associated with soup kitchens. I keep many frozen soups in the freezer and first thing in the morning on a hot day, I take out a container and let it defrost naturally until about 2 pm, then I have a late lunch of chilled soup in the garden. It is glorious.
I agree - I used to buy a soup from the works canteen every day.
Also, when I was a school, I remember we used to get a guy come in his van with a cauldron of black bean soup in the winter. We were not supposed to leave the school grounds during the breaks but he used to park just outside the gate and that black bean soup was so delicious
My mother is Portuguese, and we have a tradition at parties to serve a bowl of Caldo Verde, it can be made vegetarian or flavoured with meats but essentially it is kale and potato, and I prefer it like that without meats. I find meat in soup makes it a kind of stew because meat needs to be stewed primarily. I like soup without meat. Anyway, your story reminded me of my time in Portugal when I was much younger and would go to parties with young folk all being hip and happening and then you’d get offered a bowl of Caldo Verde on arrival, it seemed so much at odds with the impression most people have of soup being something older folk enjoy.
This thread might be a nice distraction to find out what kind of soup people like.
My favourite soup is Caldo Verde but I also enjoy chickpea and spinach soup, and I make a regular bean soup which is primarily black beans as you mentioned in your post, and I also enjoy lentil soup which is runnier than Dahl.
I will post a recipe on this thread on how to make Caldo Verde from scratch, even though it is kale and potatoes, there are a few particulars to it which I will go through. I will post with photos as I intend to make some soon. I do enjoy broccoli and Stilton but also, simply, broccoli soup is delicious. I made a batch recently, using stems for the base and florets for some bite. I am a bit of a herbivore and tend to use all the herbs I grow in the garden for soup. My soups are packed full of sage, parsley, rosemary, wild marjoram, and thyme. I tend to not flavour with dry spices as much unless I am making a spicy broth. However, in some soups, a base of nutmeg is beneficial. More to post when I through the weekend.
I’m not as able as I used to be in the kitchen but I love this foodi stuff, please keep it up guys.
Talking about black beans this is a vegetable thing I regularly make.
it needs no meat yet is very satisfying.
1 aubergine
1 courgette
1 onion
a few sticks of celery
1 red pepper (seeds removed)
1 or 2 potatoes
handful salted fermented black beans (I get them off ebay – a great flavouring)
chop all chunky
pressure cook for 20 minutes.
remove potato and mash it into the pressure cooker water.
add a tin of chopped tomatoes (and some bean water maybe)
stir all together to combine
(thicken further with cornflour or a roux if necessary)
add oregano, cumin, ginger, curry powder, pepper, a little olive oil. (use imagination, be brave) black beans are salty so further salt unnecessary
simmer all to get flavour infused through.
keeps in fridge and time does great things to the flavour.
serve with naan bread, chunky white bread, garlic bread or a cheese toasty.
from the days of the British Raj when India was a part of the Empire under Victoria. Mulligatawny and kedgeree and the Koh I Noor were each, amongst other stuff, from that era.
